HomeMy WebLinkAbout841163.tiff Volume 8, No. 20 - - �
September 28, 1984
leillinglalliiiiillillin
emitsl ATER LINE®
National Water Resources Association 955 L'Enfant Plaza, North Bldg., S.W. Washington, D.C. 20024 (202488-0610
***As this issue of NWL was going to press, uncertainty still clouded the
fate of the legislation NWRA is pushing to increase the authorization of the
Small Reclamation Projects Act. HR 4444 was ready for floor action, but the
National Wildlife Federation was pushing for a floor effort to add crippling
amendments to the bill. The bill was pulled back while intensive backstage
discussions were taking place to reach a compromise. Doyle Boen, Chrm of the
NWRA Small Projects Committee, has been in Washington the past ten days
leading the effort to win Congressional approval of the bill . His efforts
included appearing as a witness representing NWRA in support of the companion
measure S 1981 at a hearing held by Sen Don Nickles on Oct 20 . Additionally,
he has worked diligently with Members and Congressional staffers to effect a
reasonable compromise . Issues at stake include upfront financing, market
yield interest rates, surplus crops, and interest on agricultural water.
***Sen Mark Hatfield (OR) on Sept 25 introduced S .J. Res 356, a joint
resolution making continuing appropriations for FY'85 . The good news is that
the resolution includes funding for Headgate Rock (AZ ) , Buffalo Bill (WY) and
Animas La Plata (CO-NM) . The bad news is that funding for The Narrows (CO)
was omitted.
***The High Plains States Groundwater Demo Program Act of 1983 (HR 71 )
introduced by Rep Doug Bereuter (NE) , has been sent to President Reagan for
signature. The House accepted the Senate amendments on Monday, Sept 14th .
The bill authorizes the BuRec to establish demonstration projects for
recharge of aquifers in the 17 reclamation states , with 12 expected to be
located in the high plains states of Colorado, Kansas , Nebraska, New Mexico,
Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas and Wyoming. At least nine are to be selected
in the other states .
At the behest of Sen David Durenberger (MN) , the Senate amended the bill
to require that each individual demonstration will require a specific line
item appropriation. Sen Durenberger on August 10 used the occasion of the
debate over the groundwater recharge demonstration bill to launch an attack on
the Garrison Diversion Project. "Garrison is a typical example of US water
policy, " he said. "Cost has been no barrier. Economic reality is not a
consideration. Water is a political, not an economic, commodity. "
Another Durenberger amendment provided that no water for groundwater
recharge could come from the Great Lakes Region. Sen David Pryor (Ark )
offered a similar amendment to protect the waters of the state of Arkansas.
A third Durenberger amendment requires that the Administrator of the
Environmental Protection Agency and the Secretary of the Interior enter into a
memorandum of understanding to protect the underground aquifers from possible
contamination as a result of the recharge process .
***The House has passed HR 6206, which is intended to carry out a water
rights settlement for the Ak-Chin Indians in Arizona . The settlement was
spelled out in legislation passed by Congress in 1978. HR 6206 would provide
for the transfer of 50 , 000 acre feet of Gila Project water to Ak-Chin Farms
(the corporate name under which the tribe operates) . The water will come from
the entitlement of the Yuma Mesa Irrigation and Drainage District, the Yuma
Irrigation District and the North Gila Valley Irrigation District . The
districts will be paid $9. 3 million by the Federal government, and will also
be relieved of $2.3 million in outstanding repayment obligations on the Gila
Project . Included is $5 .4 million which will go to the Yuma Mesa Irrigation
and Drainage District for replacement, rehabilitation and repair of the
district ' s distribution system, including pumping facilities. Also included
is $2 million for Yuma Mesa, $1 million for the Yuma Irrigation District and
$1 million for the North Gila Valley Irrigation District for on farm and
district water conservation and drainage facilities. The legislation provides
that the contract which the districts will sign as part of the exchange will
not constitute a "supplemental or additional benefit" which would trigger the
imposition of the Reclamation Reform Act on the districts .
***A ray of hope! The Citizens Clearinghouse for Hazardous Waste, an
environmental organization held up the construction of a housing development
in Fairfax Co, VA on the charge that the development was being built on a
chemically contaminated site . The County spent $25 , 000 investigating the
allegation and found the site to be free of any serious chemical contam-
1984 CONVENTION, HYA1 f 'OENIX, ARIZONA, NOVEMBER 11-15
841163
to begin with, and following the investigation the County ount Board has voted to
sue the organization to recover their $25, 000 expense. Ignoring the charge
that their suit was irresponsible, environmental organizations are amazed and
appalled at the county ' s action. One member of the County Board said a suit
would discourage irresponsible actions on the part of the citizen' s groups.
How many times have water projects been held up by similar actions with
the final result being substantial cost increase because of escalation during
the delay . The project beneficiaries have been saddled with the added cost
while the objectors have gone "scot free. "
***The Senate Energy Comm has cleared a House bill to permit a reduction
in the amount of repayment expected from the Frenchman Unit of the Pick-Sloan
Missouri Basin Proj in Neb. The bill (HR 3130 ) would benefit the Hitchcock
and Red Willow Irrig Dist. The district has a contract with the BuRec for the
delivery of 17 , 500 acre feet of water a year from the Enders Reservoir,
written under Sec 9 (e) of the Reclamation Project Act of 1939, and a repayment
contract for a maximum of $1 . 5M under Sec 9 ( d) for the construction of the
distribution system. Due to groundwater pumping and other developments above
the reservoir, the inflows to the reservoir have been seriously depleted and
the district is unable to meet its repayment obligation. The proposed
legislation would eliminate the $1 . 2M remaining unpaid . This amount ul-
timately will be repaid by power revenues from Pick-Sloan.
***A 44 . 5% increase in population but only a 10% increase in water use is
forecast for the State of California for the 30 year period extending from
1980 to 2010 , according to a report from the California Dept of Water
Resources . The report projects that the population will increase from 23 . 8
million to 34 . 4 million, but that water use will increase from 33 .8 million
acre feet per year to 37 . 3 million acre feet. Urban water use is expected to
increase by 1 . 8 million acre feet a year--a 37% increase--compared to an
increase of only 1 . 7 million acre feet for agriculture (an increase of 6%) .
The report also notes that the increase in net water use in So Calif is
aggravated by the prospective reduction of 360, 000 acre feet a year from the
Colorado River when the Central Arizona Project goes on line in 1986 .
Noting past north-south struggles over water in California, Calif Wtr Res
Director David N Kennedy said: "It is time to end the water wars. We are one
state. We should proceed with a statewide program. "
***Sens Daniel Evans and Slade Gorton (WA) have introduced legislation to
impose a temporary moratorium on the issuance of hydroelectric permits in the
Columbia Basin by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. The moratorium
would apply to permits , licenses , leases, relicensing, exemptions "or other
approval or authorization for dams, conduits , reservoirs , or other works for
storage or carriage of water, or for the development of power. " The issuance
of permits could resume after FERC, in consultation with the Pacific Northwest
Electric Power and Conservation Planning Council, develops and adopts detailed
procedures (1 ) for prior consolidated reviews of individual proposals in a
given river basin, ( 2 ) prior assessment of the cumulative impacts of in-
dividual projects in a given river basin, and ( 3 ) detailed procedures and a
timetable for full implementation of the Northwest Power Planning Council ' s
Columbia River Fish and Wildlife Program. "
Sen Evans , in introducing the bill , said FERC has at lest 400 appli-
cations pending and approximately that many outstanding preliminary permits
for hydroelectric development in Idaho, Oregon, Montana and Washington. He
said many of those were in the Columbia Basin.
"Most of these recent proposals are for hydroelectric projects of less
than 5 megawatts, " he said. "Many . . . are for tributary drainage basins which
contain important anadromous fish habitat. Although individual projects may
have no significant adverse effects on the fish and wildlife resources of the
basin, the cumulative effects of such development throughout a river basin
could be quite harmful to migratory fish . At present, Federal review
procedures generally are limited to assessments of individual projects . Little
or no consideration is given to cumulative effects of such dams.
Meanwhile , S 1132 , the bill to specify annual charges for projects with
licenses issued by FERC, still has a chance this session. It has cleared the
Senate, the House Comm this week amended the Senate bill and moved it forward.
NATIONAL WATER LINE
National Water Resources Association BULK RATE
U.S. POSTAGE
955 L'Enfant Plaza, S.W.
PAID
Washington, D.C. 20024 PERMIT NO. 2316
WASHINGTON, D.C.
NATIONAL WATER LINE is intended
as an information service to the N.W.R.A.
members. Quote if you like, but please
credit the NATIONAL WATER LINE.
1e +,per L'Jcs2.3�Nhu'b .
ac w n.�c... . CUAsU it v Lli �.LUivI Y
t'-f"iS5ILNcis $100 SUBSCRIPTION FEE PER YEAR
ti &CPA 4_59
3 GI.EELc't L•u .uuJ,
Zh H.AIORE Return Postage Guaranteed J. �j
Hello